BIG DAY OUT 2009

Melbourne Showgrounds Carpark  – Melbourne, 26th January, 2009.

The Big Day Out had a return to form in 2009 after what was a dismal 2008. The previous year’s effort was potentially the worst run festivals of all time. Being positioned in the middle of summer, it would make sense to provide punters with some shade, so holding the event in a car park without as much as an umbrella to avoid being baked alive was bound for failure. The area in front of the stage reaching back one hundred or so metres had become so trampled that the soil had turned into a fine dust, clouding out the stage and the sun with the slightest breeze, choking everyone in the process. From there there was only one way they could go: up.

Only one question then remained: what is a metalhead doing at the Big Day Out? Even though the pickings have becom slimmer over the years, metal can still be found year after year at the event. Carrying the flag this year first and foremost was Bullet For My Valentine, ably supported by the likes of Cog, Fantomas, and if you keep and open mind, The Butterfly Effect, System of a Down’s Serj Tankian and the always entertaining Dropkick Murphy’s.

After some issues with transport, driving was to be the way of the day, and we arrived at an orderly Big Day Out carpark. Its a weird feeling walking from the current car park, which is in the showgrounds where the festival used to be held, to the current venue… the showgrounds car park. We were a little nervous entering the venue after it was such a failure last year, but things were looking positive. Maybe it was just the 10,000 less tickets sold prior to the day? I had completely forgotten it was Australia Day till the over patriotic masses came into view with their flag capes, and southern cross tatoos.

After a quick bag check, we were into the Big Day Out. An over priced BDO hat was on the cards with the excessive heat, which was followed by the trek into the D Barrier for the Birds of Tokyo. Karnivool’s Ian Kenny and his Birds crew came out to a large crowd, and went straight into Broken Bones, the second single off their latest album ‘Universe’. With the band having quickly spread over onto Nova, their songs were quite well known from the large crowd gathered. Broken Bones was followed with older song ‘Black sheets’, before cracking into the highlight of Universes, Armour for Liars, and latest single Wild Eyed Boy. Birds played a good set of old a new, finishing with the singalong-like Wayside, and the energetic Sihouetics. A good start to the day.

A break was to follow while the Grates played to check out the perks of being a ‘guest’ on the day. With ‘Guest’ and ‘Drinking age verified’ wrist bands on, we entered the guest bar, and although it was nothing special, it was nice to have an area away from the masses, with clean toilets!

Up next on the main stage was Bondi boys, Cog. 2008 had been a massive year for the band, with the release of their second, critically aclaimed album, Sharing Space. Jumping straight into ‘Are you interested?‘ and resonate, with the fans duely jumping along. For a festival, the band had a great, clear sound, offering a good mix of tracks off ‘the new normal‘, and ‘sharing space’ with the only surprises coming in ‘open up‘, and the epic ‘the spine‘ unexpected at a festival, but pleasing the crowd. Cog offered a break from the Australia day speaches, and this was to continue with Bullet for my Valentine.

Coming out on stage with a massive Welsh flag was drummer Michael Thomas. Whether a piss take, or a tradition of theirs it got a cheer for the gathering crowd. After few words with their amusing Welsh accents, the band jumped into Scream Aim Fire, with fans torn between moshing, and strumming along in time with guitar hero. Vocalist Matt Tuck is happy to have a chat between songs, and although they sound almost rehearsed, he appears a uneasy between songs. Calling for circle pits throughout, and mainly created by fans who look like they’ve never been inside one before, the dusty ground that is the showgrounds carpark was slowly starting to rise. Swapping a ‘slow and sexy’ track for Spit you out, mainly delivered by bassist Jay, gave the crowd another chance to mosh, before closing with the ever popular waking the demon.

Some lunch and a break from bands was next up on the cards. Having spent 15 bucks on a can of pepsi, a bucket of chips, and a chickenless chinken burger, it was off to the car to listen to the hottest 100 to catch the final 20 songs. Having seen Serj Tankian the day before, it wasnt much of a loss, not beeing too familiar with his solo material.

Heading back into the venue with Sex On Fire running through my head, we caught the 20 minutes of The Living Ends set, which consisted of 2 songs, and a lot of wanking around on the guitar. Almost time for the Butterfly Effect.

After a surprisingly thorough soundcheck, the boys from Brisbane took to stage with ‘Room without a view‘, getting a good reception from the crowd. Dressed in black with a skeleton long sleeve shirt on, the bands vocalist Clint Boge looked like a bit of a twat, but along with the rest of the band appear at ease playing infront of big crowds. Delivering tracks Always, Reach, Final Conversations, and Window and the Watcher to cheers and sing-alongs by the fans. Despite the lengthy soundcheck, guitarist Kurt Goedhart sounded thin and quite low in the mix, but judging from the fans, no one really seemed to care. Amusement came during their set from some fluro loving trendy fans lighting up their cigaretts, while wearing t-shirts from the NSW cancer council. What douches. The band left the stage with their epic ‘Worlds on Fire‘, not a bad way to finish off the set.

Simulataneously on the commercially titled “Converse” stage was Fantomas, probably the biggest wildcard at this years event. Just like at their show the night before, they were well suited out entirely in cricket whites, with Mike Patton adding that extra touch of class wearing batting pads. It was another show playing their “Directors Cut” album in full. The crowd was relatively small, which wasn’t at all surprising given the typical BDO attendee’s preference for soft fabrics and bright colours. The Godfather theme started proceedings, unleashing themselves onto the audience in all of their wonderful extremities. Patton really is one of the most amazing frontmen of all time. Given Fantomas‘ unusual music style, much of their performance is based around band members watching Patton for the signal of when to start and stop, whether it be a raised hand, a tilting of the head or even a wink. The part of the crowd that didnt leave, and those who flowed in during their set were blown away by the effort such as “The Golem”, demonstrating the entire bands abilities and eccentricities. Patton thanked the crowd, and the most interesting thing to happen to the Big Day Out left the stage.

Darkness had by this time engulfed the festival grounds, which is usually a good sign that there is only limited time left for fun. Thank God then that the Dropkick Murphy’s were playing last. Their mix or Irish folk music and punk was the closer that you want at a festival, somewhere to let it all hang out and do stupid things to. With members swapping vocalist duties and instruments ranging from bag pipes, to banjoes, to flute, to go along with standard drums, bass and guitars, they put on a show worthy of finishing the BDO on a high, rather than as a tranquiliser with Neil Young headlining on the main stages. The setlist featured many a song with the word Boston in the title, and finishing with crowd favourites ‘Kiss me, I’m shitfaced‘, and ‘I’m Shipping Up To Boston‘.

Following a quick run to try and hear Rockin in the free world, and missing by a minute, it was time to bring another Big Day out Festival to an end. Being my 8th festival, it will probably sit equal bottom, along with last years festival, which had a great lineup, but a terrible venue ruining the day. It was a day of quality local music with the odd international band. Hopefully next year some we can see some more international metal, as the majority of the quality on the line up was with local bands you can see a few times a year for $20.

On a hotter day we could have easily seen a repeat of the 2008 dust bowl, but a enjoyable day was had by all with the lower crowd numbers, and (slightly) cooler day.

Review by Mathew Boelsen and Scott Boelsen

Thanks to Miranda Brown Publicity for the passes.